Actor Vince Vaughn has a theory as to why R-rated comedies like the ones that made him famous aren’t made anymore.
The 54-year-old became a household name starring in movies like “Old School” (2003), “Dodgeball” (2004), and “Wedding Crashers” (2005). During a recent episode of the “Hot Ones” podcast, he said that Hollywood execs are less likely to greenlight these movies now because they fear losing their jobs.
“They just overthink it,” Vaughn said of movie studio higher-ups, per HuffPost. “And it’s crazy.”
“You get these rules,” he continued. “Like, if you did geometry and you said 87 degrees was a right angle, then all your answers are messed up, instead of 90 degrees. So there became some idea or concept, like, they would say something like, ‘You have to have an IP.’”
IP, or intellectual property, refers to films based on previous work, such as superhero films with built-in fan bases. These types of films are considered less risky for movie studios.
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“The people in charge don’t want to get fired more so than they’re looking to do something great, so they want to follow a set of rules that somehow get set in stone, that don’t really translate,” Vaughn added.
“But as long as they follow them, they’re not going to lose their job, because they can say, ‘Well, look, I made a movie off the board game ‘Payday’ so even though the movie didn’t work, you can’t let me go, right?’” he said.
The actor said he’s hopeful things will change soon.
“People want to laugh, people want to look at stuff that feels a little bit like it’s, you know, dangerous or pushing the envelope,” Vaughn added. “I think you’re going to see more of it in the film space sooner than later, would be my guess.”
These comments come as the superhero genre has been struggling at the box office, with some high-profile flops in recent years, including “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels” in 2023, to name a few.
Vaughn had previously teased the idea of a sequel to his hit comedy Dodgeball, but no firm plans have been revealed so far.
